Technology

The Core is the music department’s public Mac computer lab. More information can be found here. If you have any projects that require specific music software you can complete them in The Core instead of buying the software yourself. The Core also provides some video and audio equipment for check-out. The Core is located in the basement of Haydn Hall. If you have any questions email or call:

Dr. Ken Wendt Email: musictech@case.edu Phone: (216) 368-5456.

Software

CWRU has a robust software repository located at http://softwarecenter.case.edu (your caseID and password are required for access). Since you need a caseID and password to access the repository, and you may not have that yet, the most common software available is listed here. You should not buy any software on this list! Symantic Virus Protection Adobe Acrobat Pro Adobe Creative Suite OS X iLife iWork Carbonite VPN Client Endnote Microsoft Office VMWare Fusion Windows

Many other science and math-based applications.

CWRU does not provide any specific music applications, but they are available in The Core (see below). You probably won’t need to buy any music software while you study here so you shouldn’t buy it before you come to school. If you find you need it in the future you can always purchase it later. We also have access to some educational prices you might not have access to on your own.

Hardware

The CWRU music department faculty and staff use Macs exclusively; however, students are welcome to use a Windows computer as well. If you decide to buy a Mac before you come to CWRU make sure you buy from the Apple store directly. Mention that you are a student and bring some sort of evidence – usually they prefer an ID but sometimes they will take enrollment documentation too. Apple gives students a decent discount on computers (but not iOS devices or accessories).

While we do love the iPad it’s probably not going to do everything you need it to do as a student here. They’re great as an addition to your computer, for taking notes, studying from e-books, writing simple papers, etc. But if you need any sort of complex software you’ll probably run into problems.

CWRU Music’s standard computer recommendation is that every student come to school with a 13″ MacBook Air with a VGA adapter and an iPad with a dock/VGA adapter. This is absolutely not a requirement! If you do buy a Mac you will need an external hard drive for backing up. Don’t learn this lesson the hard way – use a backup drive. You’ll also need a 16+ Gb thumb/flash drive or a Dropbox account for transferring files between computers or backing up working files.